Regina Irman: Schwarzes Glück 2

Regina Irman (b. 1957) is a Swiss musician, music educator and composer. Regina Irman was born in Winterthur, Switzerland. In 1976 she studied music at the Winterthur Conservatory, and in 1982 received her teacher’s diploma with guitar as principal instrument. She also began to study percussion, and in 1995 received a concert diploma with distinction for percussion. Her first compositions were made while she was studying the guitar, and after 1983 she composed for a number of commissions, including the city of Zurich, the cultural foundation Pro Helvetia, the Women’s Congress of Bern, the Swiss Youth Music Competition, and various ensembles. She spent a sabbatical year in Zurich, and has performed in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France and Ukraine. She also works as a drummer and instrumental teacher. She is a lecturer at the Pädagogischen Hochschule Thurgau.

Schwarzes Glück 2 is a 2001 percussion quartet in two movements and an epilogue which is based on sections from Irman’s earlier 1990 piano composition Schwarzes Glück. The instrumentation includes: four piccolo snares, Basel drum, eight tom-toms, two bongos, conga, darbouka, two large frame drums, two bass drums, four pedal timpani, three woodblocks, temple block, large slit drum, two tam-tams, gong in C, four cymbals, three cowbells, a large Japanese temple bell, brake drum, guiro, and other small percussion instruments (no melodic instruments). The work is characterized by its rhythmical pulse and timbral variety.